help me backup my android
November 26, 2023 9:39 AM Subscribe
I want to backup my Samsung phone to my PC. I do not want to backup to Google at the moment. The Contacts backup to Google. But I want the whole phone on the desktop.
Samsung has an app called Smart Switch. For some reason, my PC (windows 10, fully updated) is not compatible with this app, and therefore will not install. So, I can cable my phone to my PC, browse to the phone, and see all the files. Here is where I am not sure.
Does just moving the various folders to the desktop create a backup? Or will this somehow delete the folders from the phone, which I don't want to do. Also, should I need to use this backup in the future, will the phone be able to find the folders correctly? Or is there a particular format/order/process that one needs to use to perform this correctly?
Again, I don't want to use Google, or anything else, at this time. I just want a copy of the phone on my desktop. Thanks in advance.
Samsung has an app called Smart Switch. For some reason, my PC (windows 10, fully updated) is not compatible with this app, and therefore will not install. So, I can cable my phone to my PC, browse to the phone, and see all the files. Here is where I am not sure.
Does just moving the various folders to the desktop create a backup? Or will this somehow delete the folders from the phone, which I don't want to do. Also, should I need to use this backup in the future, will the phone be able to find the folders correctly? Or is there a particular format/order/process that one needs to use to perform this correctly?
Again, I don't want to use Google, or anything else, at this time. I just want a copy of the phone on my desktop. Thanks in advance.
I agree 100% with Klipspringer on the limitations of Android "back-ups". However, purely FYI, I use the Folder-Sync Pro app to copy *specific* folders to shared folders on my network according to a schedule. Technically this uses a Windows/Linux feature called Samba (Server Message Block communication). During setup of Folder-Sync Pro the options chosen are *important*. You almost certainly do NOT want to "mirror" your phone to your desktop since files accidentally deleted from the phone would then be deleted from the desktop. You probably just want a copy of changed or new files to the desktop.
In my situation I use this to backup music playlists, photos, videos, downloads, KeePass database, etc.
My purpose in mentioning this is just for your awareness. It is probably *NOT* a safe alternative for you to make use of.
posted by forthright at 2:05 PM on November 26, 2023
In my situation I use this to backup music playlists, photos, videos, downloads, KeePass database, etc.
My purpose in mentioning this is just for your awareness. It is probably *NOT* a safe alternative for you to make use of.
posted by forthright at 2:05 PM on November 26, 2023
In conclusion, "I just want a copy of the phone on my desktop." is not easily possible.
I would also chime in and say it is generally also not desirable. A copy of your phone's data should be somewhere you can get to it when you can't get to your phone or your desktop. The obvious question: what if your desktop machine fails catastrophically? You may have a NAS or some other powerful home network setup, which makes this less risky, but if you're like a lot of folks and you have one PC and maybe an external HD or something, it's a pretty big risk to house a backup there, because of that non-zero chance of failure.
There are some questions your post brings up in my mind, and answers to them will help determine your best way forward.
1. When you say "back up your phone", what exactly are you looking to back up? Literally the "whole phone", like 100% of the things on the phone, including the many gigs' worth (Android 14 clocks in at about 15-16G) of system files, unused apps (and orphaned files from uninstalled apps), and other cruft that your Windows machine will not ever need to actually open/use? Or just the "common" things like photos, texts, documents, music, home screen configuration, phone settings, etc?
2. If the whole entire phone, why? I don't mean that question as an accusation, I'm just not sure what the benefit or use case is for backing up your entire phone to a computer. Can you elaborate a bit on why you want to do this? That might help drive some more focused answers.
3. "Also, should I need to use this backup in the future, will the phone be able to find the folders correctly?"
Almost certainly not, at least automatically. Which is why I asked #2. An Android phone is, obviously, not the same as a Windows machine - the file structures are entirely different and Windows doesn't inherently "know" anything file-structure wise that isn't Windows, nor does Android know where to look for folders on a Windows machine. To move folders back and forth, you'd almost certainly need to drag and drop pretty much every folder you'd want to restore to your new phone, which is...laborious if you're doing the whole phone. It's doable, for sure, but I would think it'd be almost more trouble than it's worth.
It's possible to make a Windows machine think an Android phone that is connected to it is just another external location/ destination for file transfers, for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily trust that it would survive 100% intact going from Android phone to Windows PC and back again, especially if it sits for a couple years.
A little more context about what your desired goal is for doing this would probably be useful.
posted by pdb at 7:21 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I would also chime in and say it is generally also not desirable. A copy of your phone's data should be somewhere you can get to it when you can't get to your phone or your desktop. The obvious question: what if your desktop machine fails catastrophically? You may have a NAS or some other powerful home network setup, which makes this less risky, but if you're like a lot of folks and you have one PC and maybe an external HD or something, it's a pretty big risk to house a backup there, because of that non-zero chance of failure.
There are some questions your post brings up in my mind, and answers to them will help determine your best way forward.
1. When you say "back up your phone", what exactly are you looking to back up? Literally the "whole phone", like 100% of the things on the phone, including the many gigs' worth (Android 14 clocks in at about 15-16G) of system files, unused apps (and orphaned files from uninstalled apps), and other cruft that your Windows machine will not ever need to actually open/use? Or just the "common" things like photos, texts, documents, music, home screen configuration, phone settings, etc?
2. If the whole entire phone, why? I don't mean that question as an accusation, I'm just not sure what the benefit or use case is for backing up your entire phone to a computer. Can you elaborate a bit on why you want to do this? That might help drive some more focused answers.
3. "Also, should I need to use this backup in the future, will the phone be able to find the folders correctly?"
Almost certainly not, at least automatically. Which is why I asked #2. An Android phone is, obviously, not the same as a Windows machine - the file structures are entirely different and Windows doesn't inherently "know" anything file-structure wise that isn't Windows, nor does Android know where to look for folders on a Windows machine. To move folders back and forth, you'd almost certainly need to drag and drop pretty much every folder you'd want to restore to your new phone, which is...laborious if you're doing the whole phone. It's doable, for sure, but I would think it'd be almost more trouble than it's worth.
It's possible to make a Windows machine think an Android phone that is connected to it is just another external location/ destination for file transfers, for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily trust that it would survive 100% intact going from Android phone to Windows PC and back again, especially if it sits for a couple years.
A little more context about what your desired goal is for doing this would probably be useful.
posted by pdb at 7:21 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
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The Smart Switch "Windows" app is there for users with Windows Mobile phones to migrate to Samsung. It's not for Windows PCs to take a backup of Samsung phones.
Does just moving the various folders to the desktop create a backup?
Copy the folders, don't cut or move them.
This only works for the data which Android makes accessible to your PC. This will include photos and videos (in the DCIM folder), music, podcasts, etc.
But it excludes lots of data which you would normally want to back up, such as your SMS messages, call history, settings, and (for most apps) your data within apps (all sorts of things, such as calendar events, any data you have sent and received over messaging apps like Signal, etc).
Some apps store data in the Android folder, which you could copy — but (in general) there is no way of importing this data back into your apps in future.
In conclusion, "I just want a copy of the phone on my desktop." is not easily possible.
Most Android users back up their phone to their device manufacturers' servers (in this case, Samsung's built-in cloud backup) or to Google's servers using Android itself. These services do not necessarily back up all your data in every app.
posted by Klipspringer at 12:24 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]